Randy Johnson: On the Verge of History
Written by MC Homer, Wednesday June 03 2009
On the verge of 300 wins, Randy Johnson already has a Hall of Fame career. He is one of only 24 players with 299 career wins, a number which will probably not be touched for a long, long while, if ever. His Major League debut was in 1988, when he was a September call-up with
For years, he was the tallest player in MLB history. Standing at 6’10, he was more than an intimidating presence on the mound. In his earlier years, not only was he a ‘Big Unit’ on the hill, but he brought the gas. He was said to have been clocked as high as 102 mph with his fastball, and touched triple digits on more than a few occasions. Oh, and he had no clue where the ball was going. I guess you could say he was effectively wild since he ranks third in history in bean balls with 188.
As his career progressed, he began to locate his pitches much better, only enhancing his ever-increasingly dominant statistics. He has the most strikeouts in history for a left-hander with 4,843, only trailing that Nolan Ryan guy (who has 5,714), for most ever. Only four pitchers have 4,000 K’s in their careers, the other two being Roger Clemens and Steve Carlton. He also is number one all-time with 10.67 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. His fastball was (and still can be) great, but his slider was (and still is) devastating. For much of his career, it was a low-90’s slide piece, in one word: unhittable.
He has 37 career shutouts, been selected to the All-Star team 10 times, and has five Cy Young Awards, second only to Roger ‘I misremembered’ Clemens’ seven. Johnson has thrown one no-hitter and is the proud owner of a perfect game, one of only 17 in baseball history, oh, and he was 40 when he accomplished that small feat. He struck out 20 batters in a game once (in 9 innings), tying the record, but because it was an extra-inning affair, you won’t find it in any record books. Not half bad for a loner.
Former teammates respect him, but that’s where the relationships end. Only a few players have gotten to know the real Randy. Orlando Hudson, a teammate of Johnson’s in
Tonight, as Randy Johnson gets his first shot at the big 300, the ever-present intensity he brings is sure to be there. The Washington Nationals sure don’t want to be a part of history, at least not this kind. With the mediocre (at best) team that surrounds Johnson, he will have to live up to his standards, nothing less than perfection. As long as he can locate his fastball to the corners and pinpoint that nasty slider, he should reach this great achievement by the time the moon is high in the sky.
There might not be millions of people who tune in to tonight’s game in our nation’s capitol, but if the Big Unit notches number 300, it will be the biggest milestone of the season, for any player. You can bet that if he was more personable, more people would watch and care about this accomplishment, but since he has never been a media, fan, or clubhouse favorite, the exposure just isn’t there. He’ll probably never win any teammate of the year awards, but he is a born winner, and at the professional level, that reigns supreme.
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4 comments
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It really might not happen again! I'm looking at possible candidates... Halladay? Sabathia? They're less than HALF WAY there!!! Of course Jamie Moyer might just pitch until he is 100....
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This really is a great feat, because, as you say, who knows if there will be another 300 game winner. It's too bad for Smoltz that he spent so much time in the bullpen.
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It's too bad he had to get #300 on a glorified swamp in front of 15 baseball fans, 14 of whom were Giants fans, so I guess that's good. Not for another 10-15 years, at least, will anyone sniff 300.
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I hope The Big Unit gets it tonight. I'll be at the Rays/Royals game so I'm going to follow the game on the scoreboard in the stadium. Good thing, because for whatever reason, ESPN is not showing the Gaints/Nats game. If Johnson gets #300 tonight, here's to him! If not, I know it'll happen soon.